Who is the “Lord of the Hams”: Prosciutto di Parma, San Daniele or Norcino? Spaghetti all´Amatriciana shall be prepared with or without tomato? Is buffalo milk more heavenly than cow´s for mozzarella? Was Primitivo di Manduria the wine served at Christ´s last supper? These are some of the life-saving questions which Italians love to argue about, until the end of time. In our Quest for Food Truth we explored the green heart of Italy, from Lazio to Umbria: a land of saints of hams.Spaghetti all`Amatriciana are one of the staples of traditional Italian cuisine: fast, simple, tasty, they epitomize the hearty Mediterranean cooking style. The village of Amatrice in the region of Lazio proudly calls itself the birthplace of the dish, which then became famous in Rome with the “bucatini” variations, a thicker form of spaghetti with a longitudinal hole that guarantee a whiplash of sauce on your Sunday´s shirt.

The legend goes that the local shepherds prepared this simple dish in their mountain coves even before a posse of Italians (Cristoforo Colombo, Amerigo Vespucci and the Caboto bros) put America on the maps and tomatoes on the menus, using the ingredients they had at hand: flour, “guanciale” (cured meat from pork cheeks) and self-made “pecorino” cheese. This archaic version of Amatriciana is called “gricia” and is best appreciated with short pasta like “mezze maniche” (half sleeves), while the classic juicy tomato sauce is ideally married with spaghetti. We taste both at the local restaurant Ma-tru and (as always) there is no definitive verdict: someone insists that the “white” version allows a deeper enjoyment of the meaty taste of guanciale and the intense flavour of pecorino, while the other half of the world enjoys the rich tomato sauce and indulge in the ritual of “scarpetta”, cleaning the dish with a piece of bread. Even about bread we can open a dogmatic symposium: in the regions of Umbria, Toscana and Marche, the local folks bake bread without salt, according to a centuries-old tradition introduced when the local rulers imposed an excessive custom duty on salt sales following ancient rivalries between Firenze and Pisa, Perugia and the Pope, and basically every village versus the neighbour in the best Italian habit. Locals say that this deficit is counterbalanced by the salty taste of cured meat like boar ham, however in our opinion it taste like sandpaper, being aptly called “pane sciocco” (literally "foolish bread").

We leave Amatrice greeting a just-married couple and continue our scenic drive towards Umbria, entering the realm of black truffles and Norcino ham. The medieval village of Norcia sits at the foot of rolling hills guarded by the steep mountains of the Appennini range: unlike other ancient towns which expanded in modern times, the whole city is still contoured by stone walls, possibly creating a micro-climate where one scent dominates: bacon. As soon as you cross the city door you are greeted by a reception committee of stuffed boars, with chandeliers of salami and salsiccia hanging from the ceilings of the many butchers´ shops aligning the pedestrian streets. Even the statue of San Benedetto da Norcia, the patron of Europe and leading figure in the history of European civilization thanks to the educational role played by the Benedictine monasteries, looks like blessing this feast to earthly pleasures.

We spend a lovely evening in a welcoming agriturismo , a restored farm with a magnificent view over the hills of Cascia (another holy place, being the birthplace of Santa Rita) with the owner Giorgio and his alter-ego Eugenio, the local equivalent of Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel. Giorgio was an IT programmer for 2 decades, then a sailor, then a shepherd and cheese-maker, a saffron grower (saffron is a traditional wealth of these hills, used extensively also in cheese), a walking encyclopaedia of knights & ghosts stories, recipes and anecdotes and a natural-born entertainer. His recommendation to visit the butchery “La boutique del pecoraro” (the sheep shepherd boutique) wins us a tasting of the local delicacies prepared by Mario , a master of knife-shaving: “coglioni di mulo” means literally “mule´s testicles, due to their typical shape of salami ovals filled with a white lard core , a king-size “panino del sindaco” (“major´s sandwich” with triple ham filling),smoked ricotta cheese and the winner of them all, a truffle-flavoured cheese. As every Italian, I also think that the truffle from my homeland Piemonte is the best in the Galaxy, but the locals have their valuable opinion for the Umbrian black type, to which they dedicate (as we do in Piemonte) a chocolate praline with truffle scent, said to be proudly supplied as well to the English royal court.With 2 drops of truffle scent number 5 on our neck, it is time to head downhill towards the sea and Ravenna, world famous for its “piadina” street food and the most magnificent mosaics ever seen by human eye.